How Is Alpine School District Utilizing Orem’s Real Estate?

Alpine School District (ASD) has a real estate portfolio of schools amounting to over $1.4 billion. This excludes district offices, transport hubs, warehouses, vehicles, personal property, etc. Any entity, including a school district, with this amount of financial investment, is expected to manage the assets with professional, industry-trained managers who attend to the portfolio with the utmost care – especially given the precious children who attend these schools, and the charge of trust that taxpayers rely upon to see that these funds be dispensed with precision, professionalism and fiscal responsibility.

HAVE OREM FACILITIES BEEN PROPERLY MAINTAINED?

Steve Reese, Alpine School District director of accounting, said in August 2021 that $82.5 million in maintenance has been deferred since 2016. This deferring of needed maintenance shortens and devalues the lifespan of buildings and their vital components. The delay in action will undoubtedly cost significantly more than $82.5 million now, due to inflation and the rising costs of construction, labor, and supplies. The shutdown of schools during COVID would have been an ideal time to get caught up on much of the deferred maintenance, as the schools were empty and full-time facility maintenance employees were being paid despite the need to perform janitorial and other duties likely decreasing. As ASD board member Sara Hacken said, “We have to look at what is best for our kids and do it in a timely fashion because it is much more cost-effective to replace things before they fail.” This statement should also reflect the district’s views towards the seismic issues identified in 30 ASD schools, because in the event those fail, the death of children is the consequence and they cannot be replaced.

POOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT DECISIONS:

A review of the fixed assets sheets dated May 11, 2022, provided by ASD shows some inexplicably poor choices made for some schools. For example, Vista Heights was built in 2011 and had a roof replacement just 7 years later in 2018 – an additional $340,000 in 2018, on top of the original $30,625,986.45 construction cost in 2011. Black Ridge Elementary went $900,000 over budget, yet has a decorative wrought iron fence that no other school has. Lindon Elementary shows two roof replacements in 2015 (June for $355,200 and August for $628,340) – $983,540, and more roof work was being done this summer (2022). There is rumored talk of Lindon Elementary’s replacement on the upcoming $595 million bond, which would give the $983,540 roof an economic life span of just 7 or 8 years. Unjustifiable and poor decision making. Who is monitoring these expenses, and making these decisions?

A LOOK AT OREM SCHOOLS:

As Orem considers splitting from the ASD, here is a look at just Orem schools.

Of the $765,000,000 amount paid in property taxes by Orem residents over the past 20 years, just $163,000,000 has been returned to Orem in bond allocations (aka capital improvements) – while $174,000,000 of Orem’s property taxes went to other cities ($428,000,000 went to the General Fund).

These improvements are not proportionate to the property taxes Orem paid. The discrepancy becomes even more imbalanced when a closer look is made at the manner in which ASD decided to use these funds, such as demolishing schools, consolidating schools, and selling Orem Real Estate without Orem residents approval.

Cascade Elementary:

In 2006 the school received a “poor” seismic rating for the original building (46,533 sf) and multi-purpose addition A (380 sf) both built in 1967. The estimated cost to retrofit these areas in 2006 was $1,546,000. Instead of fixing the problem for the lower cost, ASD chose to delay action on the seismic issues until 2020 when the entire school was demolished and rebuilt at the staggering cost of $20,286,301. A difference of $18,740,301.
The assessment ranked the seismic problems by severity with Cascade ranked at 36 th (original – 1967) and 55 th (addition A – 1967). ASD gave Cascade a higher priority for remediation than three other Orem elementary schools which received far worse severity scores of “very poor” (Geneva, Sharon, Windsor).

Geneva ranked 15th (original – 1948) and 48th (classroom addition – 1965). It was demolished in 2021 and was not replaced. Geneva was 19 years older than Cascade.
Sharon ranked 34th (classroom addition – 1959) and 38th (original – 1954) on the severity/priority list. Sharon is 13 years older than Cascade was.
Windsor ranked 30th (original – 1956) and 44th (kitchen addition – 1968). Windsor is 11 years older than Cascade was.
All three of these schools are Title I (low income) schools, all three ranked higher in seismic severity, all three were at least a decade older than Cascade was, and all three were placed behind Cascade for remediation.

The 4,000 sf addition added in 1990 (and then demolished in 2019) had a 29-year economic life span, which contradicts ASD’s policy requiring capital improvements to have a 40-year life span.
A double-stack oven costing $11,649.69 was added to the property in 2018 – was it retained and used in the rebuild (2 years later)?

Cherry Hill Elementary:

Cherry Hill’s original building (43,765 sf) was constructed in 1965, and in 2006 was given a “very poor” seismic rating. The estimated cost to remediate was $1,470,000. ASD demolished and rebuilt the school in 2014 at a cost of $10,320,558, a difference of $8,850,558.
In 2002, a 19,976 sf addition was added to the school at a cost of $2,924,482.

The addition was demolished in 2014, giving the $2,924,482 addition a 12-year economic life span, which contradicts ASD’s policy requiring capital improvements to have a 40-year life span.
A total of $2,924,482 of mis-captured capital improvements.

Geneva Elementary:

Geneva’s original building (29,121 sf) was constructed in 1948. In 2006, the school was given a “very poor” rating for the original building, and “poor” rating for the addition (9,800 sf – 1965). The estimated cost in 2006 to retrofit for seismic problems was $1,319,000.
A $1,397,470.71 addition of 10,146 sf was added in 2000.
A $757,981.00 improvement was added in 2004 (not specified what improvements were).
A $7,112.05 Gas Powermit Booster was added in 2016.
A $346,171.80 roof replacement was completed in 2019.
The school was demolished in 2021, giving the aforementioned improvements reduced economic life spans as follows:

The $1,398,470.71 addition a 21-year life span.
The $757,981.00 addition a 17-year life span.
The $7,112.05 gas booster a 5-year life span.
The $346,171.80 roof replacement a 2-year life span:

All of which contradicts ASD’s policy requiring capital improvements to have a 40-year life span.
A total $2,509,735.56 of mis-captured capital improvements.

Geneva has not been replaced. Geneva is a Title I (low income) school. Its student body was sent to Suncrest Elementary (also a Title I school), and renamed Parkside in 2021.
The PTA has mentioned how crowded Parkside is, carrying the load of two school’s populations in just one school, and Ada Wilson (school board member) called the accommodations “snug.”
Was the school torn down hastily in fall 2021 because ASD knew that a state-wide seismic study was being conducted by FEMA and other state organizations, and didn’t want the school remaining on the UN-remediated list from 2006, and because it was 73 years old?
Is the overload of students hurting low income students ability to thrive, especially in such close quarters?
Parkside has already experienced two floods already in 2022, and has a infestation of rats.

Hillcrest Elementary:

Hillcrest was originally built in 1954 consisting of 26,260 sf. The 2006 seismic study gave the original structure a “poor” rating, and the 1959 classroom addition (7,980 sf) a “very poor” rating. The estimated cost for repairs in 2006 was $1,136,000.
In 2004, a $3,001,170.20 addition (15,925 sf) was added.
In 2015, a Groen Steamer was installed at a cost of $12,235.26.
In 2015, a $389,227.07 roof replacement was done.
The announcement to close the school was made in 2017, and in 2019 the school was abandoned, giving the aforementioned improvements reduced usable life spans as follows:

The $3,001,170.20 addition a 15-year life span.
The $12,235.26 steamer a 4-year life span (unless it was retained and used in Centennial?).
The $389,227.07 roof replacement a 4-year life span.

All of which contradicts ASD’s policy requiring capital improvements to have 40-year economic life span.
A total of $3,402,632.53 of mis-captured capital improvements.

Northridge Elementary:

In March 2020 school was suspended due to COVID. When classes resumed in the fall of 2020, students were forbidden from drinking from the existing water fountains, and had to bring their own water bottles. A wise move would have been to install water bottle fill-up stations during the summer of 2020, however the decision to update the drinking fountains was not done until 2 years later in February/March of 2022.

ASD sent a person to jackhammer the brick walls surrounding a fountain during school hours in late February. There were children with coats tied around their heads to muffle the noise. It took place just outside of the 6th grade and kindergarten classrooms. There was no perimeter boundary to prevent people from being hit by flying brick debris. The jack-hammering lasted for hours, and could be heard outside in the parking lot. During this time, the water was shut off as well, so no one could use the bathrooms, which is a violation of OSHA regulations.

When the new fountains were installed, the decision was made to install a ½ inch tile platform on top of the existing linoleum, creating a trip-and-fall (and potentially litigious) scenario. The tiling was unnecessary, as mats had always been used under each drinking fountain. The tile was not textured, so water routinely pooled on the slippery surface, ran down the grout cracks and onto the linoleum/across the hallway floors. Week after week water lay pooled in the hallways. See the video, taken during school hours, weeks after ASD had vowed to fix the problem.

The entire drinking fountain fiasco could have been prevented if a wise person had been involved in decision making early on in the pandemic, had determined that a raised platform of slippery tiles was dangerous/unnecessary, and if on-site management had prevented the jackhammering and water shut-off from taking place during school hours.

ASD violated OSHA regulations and its own safety policies by creating an unsafe environment at Northridge. ASD’s risk management mission statement and responsibilities states: “*Alpine School District is a proud member of the State of Utah Division of Risk Management. The Division of Risk Management's role is to insure and protect State assets, promote safety and help prevent losses for State Risk Fund participants which include school districts. We approach loss control and claims management in a proactive and collaborative way. Together we make a difference. For more info visit. https://risk.utah.gov/” . ASD failed safety laws and its own risk management responsibilities at Northridge.

The 66-year-old property was sold to Orem City in 2020, and ASD pocketed the $5,600,000 proceeds.

Scera Park Elementary:

Scera Park’s original 43,765 sf building was constructed in 1962. The 2006 seismic study ranked the building as “very poor” and the estimated cost to fix it was $1,470,000.00.
The school was demolished and rebuilt in 2018 at a cost of $20,078,451. A difference of $18,608,451. It was then renamed Centennial.
The school’s footprint was significantly decreased by adding a second story (which then increased costs for elevators, stairwells, etc.). Of note as well, students from farther away are bused in from Hillcrest boundaries so it will have on-going costs to bus students in indefinitely. Not wise.
ASD’s website lists the “Parking Lot and Drop-Off” as a completed project in its 2011 Bond (shown here).

Orem High School:

In April 2022 Mike Browning with ASD administration said that in retrospect ASD should never have remodeled/rebuilt Orem High School, and should have closed it. ASD spent $43,424,900 in 2011 on Orem High School rebuild. That’s a mighty expensive regret. A telling statement about how ASD administration feels about Orem High School students and families – apparently not worth the monies expended.

We were not able to find a cost associated with moving the parking lot and drop off road, which changed in 2013, and then was changed/altered again in 2019 when the school was demolished and rebuilt as Centennial Elementary. Aerial photography shows the transformation. If someone has the cost incurred to demolish, move, asphalt, re-demolish, re-move, re-asphalt, re-demolish again, re-move again, and then re-asphalt the parking lots and drop off road, please share with us. This is so much stupidity and waste. Next time ASD should play construction/demolition with play-dough, not real dough – we cannot afford to waste money or time like this ever again.
- Whatever the cost in 2013 was, the improvements only had a 7-year life span, which contradicts ASD’s policy requiring capital improvements to have a 40-year life span.

Westmore Elementary:

Westmore’s original 41,176 sf building was constructed in 1950 for $723,087. The 2006 seismic study gave it a “very poor” rating. The estimated cost to remediate it in 2006 was $1,383,000.
In 1998, a 7,000-sf addition was added at a cost of $913,000.
In 2000, an unspecified improvement took place at a cost of $1,017,797.94.
In 2004, a 3,610-sf kitchen was added at a cost of $2,100,701.63.

The school was rebuilt in 2013 at a cost of $9,565,271.84, giving the aforementioned improvements a reduced economic life span as follows:

The $913,000 addition a 15-year life span.
The $1,017,797.94 addition a 13-year life span.
The $2,100,701.63 kitchen a 9-year life span.
- Which contradicts ASD’s policy for capital improvements to have a 40-year life span.
- $4,031,499.57 of mis-captured capital improvements.

Enrollment in October 2021 was 446. With an approximate 700-student capacity, the school is at just 63% occupancy (37% vacancy). Perhaps the suggested cost to retrofit of $913,000 in 2006 would have been money far better spent than the $9,565,271.84 price tag in 2013, along with the additional $4,031,499.57 in mis-captured capital improvements that were demolished.

NO PUBLIC VOTE ON DECISIONS MADE TO OREM SCHOOLS:

Consider carefully how poorly these monies have been spent in Orem. We were not given the opportunity to vote on these decisions, nor to have neighborhood schools demolished and not replaced. Can you really trust that ASD will wisely and fairly spend monies they collect from us? Given their track record on previous bonds, ASD will not complete 7 schools with the $595 million bond. They may start 7 schools, but they will not finish 7 complete schools with that money. ASD has gone over budget on every single project started in the past decade … by an average of 25% roughly ($25,000,000). Which likely means that another bond will be needed to complete these 7 schools and start a few more. Which will then require another bond or two to finish those schools … and on it goes, until we are indebted eternally to never-ending palatial schools … while never actually fixing the schools in desperate need today. ASD currently has 30 schools with seismic issues identified by federal and state disaster organizations. The focus should have been on providing the safest possible schools for our children, however ASD has focused instead on building schools that so far exceed what a standard school should be, physically as well as financially, and carelessly wasting money on improvements that have unjustifiably short life spans (some just 2 years). Will their focus be continuing to provide schools with “everything a student could ever want” (said at the opening of Skyridge High School in Lehi), while neglecting students in unsafe schools? Will they continue packing low-income students like sardines at Parkside? Will they continue to make terrible choices that create unsafe slip-and-fall (and possibly litigious) scenarios, contrary to Utah law and their own risk management policy? Will schools in affluent neighborhoods with “poor” seismic ratings take precedence over older schools in low-income neighborhoods with “very poor” seismic ratings? When is enough enough? As ASD administrator Kimberly Bird stated on December 14, 2021, “We just need to make sure that when we are talking about things that we need and what we want, that everyone sees the big picture.” Are Orem’s unsafe schools on ASD’s “big picture” for the bond allocations? Since ASD has only managed to remedy just 48% of the unsafe schools district-wide that were identified in 2006, the answer to that is likely no. Every parent in Orem’s 12 unsafe schools would agree that having a safe school for their child is “what we need and what we want.”

Opulence over Education? The purpose of schooling is first and foremost, education. Safety should follow second. Orem must decide if we should continue to have our property taxes spent on opulent schools outside of Orem, or if we would be better served keeping our money local, to fix desperately needed schools and have local control to better the education of Orem students.

Since 2009 (13 years -- really 11 with Covid) when Canyons split from Jordan, Canyons has built new, or rebuilt, or extensively remodeled the following:

Built Corner Canyon High School
Rebuilt Hillcrest High School
Rebuilt Brighton High School
Extensively remodeled Alta High School

They have also built 1 new middle school and elementary school; rebuilt 4 middle schools and 4 elementary schools; and remodeled 2 middle schools and 2 elementary schools.

Everyone in Canyons District agrees that they would not have been able to have these safe and thriving schools had they stayed with Jordan District.

Orem is a strong, diverse and financially capable city. Orem can sustain its students and make the best decisions concerning its students, schools and properties.

APPENDIX A:

Orem schools by the numbers. The risk management spreadsheet with ages built, square footages, capacity, etc., is markedly wrong, and outdated (2019). The 2006 Seismic Vulnerability Assessment proved more useful both for ages and square footage of original buildings and subsequent additions. The Fixed Asset spreadsheet dated 5/11/22 appears to have major things missing (Centennial and Cascade total rebuild costs; Harbor Point, Trailside and others missing entirely; explanations of improvements made, and items which have long since been destroyed which are still showing up on their account sheet, as well as depreciation for demolished improvements). Where important items have been repurposed or tossed from demolished properties is unknown: i.e. ovens, steamers, tractors, scrubbers, etc.